All posts tagged "Elon Musk"

A bipartisan group of senators hoping for answers about a recent disruption to Ukraine's battlefield communications hit a wall at the Pentagon.

The Defense Department's inspector general has turned down the lawmakers' request to investigate the throttling of Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet service in Ukraine, The Associated Press reported Wednesday. In a response dated Tuesday, the watchdog told the nine senators that the Air Force was better positioned to address their concerns.

The senators, four Republicans and five Democrats, sought the probe after Ukrainian officials said this month that connection speeds on Starlink and Starshield, its military-grade counterpart, had been slowed. Officials in Kyiv said the restrictions hampered their ability to intercept incoming Russian drones....

Elon Musk acknowledged that SpaceX changed how Ukraine's military can use Starlink and followed it with a stark warning about the war.

In a lengthy post on X Saturday, the billionaire accused Ukrainian forces of violating Starlink's terms of service by using the satellite internet system "for offensive drone strikes to kill people" before announcing, "That loophole was closed last week."

Musk then made clear how much rides on the service. "Were Starlink to be turned off, the Ukrainian front line would collapse immediately," he wrote. "This is NOT a threat, it is simply a statement of fact."...

Former Republican strategist Tim Miller had a blistering response for Elon Musk after the billionaire posted an ominous message aimed at him and his colleagues.

Miller responded on a Saturday episode of "Bulwark Takes" after Musk replied to a clip from the hosts' recent live show in Atlanta by writing, "If they want to live by the sword, that is how they will die too."

The clip, posted by an account Miller described as a MAGA meme page, showed his colleague Jonathan V. Last arguing that people don't loathe Musk enough and calling for him to face congressional subpoenas next year. "However mad you are about Elon Musk, it's not enough," Last told the crowd. "Justice is coming."...

The Trump administration's insistence that it has no say over Elon Musk's satellite network just ran headlong into a damning new account.

Reuters reported Friday that the Biden and Trump administrations both asked SpaceX several times over the years to switch its Starlink service on or off in various countries, long before this month's slowdown of Ukraine's military access. Six former senior U.S. officials described the requests to the outlet, which said they had never been reported before.

The report lands two days after Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted the decision over Ukraine's access belonged to Musk and SpaceX rather than the White House....

A Republican lawmaker who worked as an FBI agent in Ukraine demands sworn testimony over a decision he warned "costs human lives."

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) told CNN's Kaitlan Collins on Tuesday that if Elon Musk ordered a lapse in Starshield coverage for Ukraine, as a report says, "that is likely a violation of the law." Fitzpatrick said Musk has authority over Starlink, the commercial satellite internet service, but not Starshield, which the congressman called "a military-grade national security tool."

"No individual civilian should have any decision-making authority on how that's deployed," he said....

Elon Musk's attempt to distance himself from a move Ukraine says put lives at risk took a major hit with a new report.

The SpaceX founder personally ordered the slowdown of a military-grade version of Starlink that Ukrainian forces rely on, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing U.S. officials and people familiar with the matter. The speed cap rendered some of Ukraine's attack and interceptor drones close to useless, according to the report.

That account clashes with what Musk told the public. Hours after the slowdown came to light, he posted on X that "any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS."...